My No Bugs On Board Secret - Keep bugs off your boat... For Good!

Our sailboat, Wanderlust, had been docked at a marina in Key West, Florida while listed for sale, waiting for us to find her for about a year. During that time, nobody was living aboard... except bugs, that is.

We moved aboard in late summer, and immediately started finding evidence of ants, moths, small spiders, and worst of all... palmetto bugs. If you haven't heard of the horrendous palmetto bug, they're basically a huge cockroach with a prettier name, and are common in Florida. These disgusting flying roaches can projectile spit a foul-smelling liquid up to 3 meters when alarmed, aka when I try to kill them. REALLY, REALLY NOT COOL, MOTHER NATURE.

I tried conventional roach traps with poison, but they were too small for these giants, and poison made me uncomfortable with our dog on board. Plus, new palmetto bugs just kept coming, flying through the overhead hatches even if I killed one or two. I was making no headway, and hated having poison on board.

I told our fellow live-aboard friends Tom and Deb about my plight, and never ending battle with the evil palmetto bugs. Tom is a shipwright and craftsman, and Deb is a former ASA instructor. Needless to say, they know an awful lot about sailboats and living aboard. Deb then told me about her favorite product for bugs, Cedarcide, and actually gave me a bottle to try. She told me it's an all natural product made from pure cedar oil, and can be used inside and outside the boat as a natural pesticide, on the dog for fleas and ticks, and even as a mosquito repellent on your skin. The cedar oil is completely non-toxic to animals and humans, but kills and repels insects naturally.

Cedarcide does NOT damage woodwork, headliners, or stain fabrics or clothing. Plus, it makes your boat smell like a lovely cedar tree - because that's exactly what it's made from. The ingredients list is short, with just two, including pure red cedar oil, and quartz.

I sprayed Cedarcide inside cabinets, on the settee fabrics, along the hatch perimeters, port hole screens, even in the bilge. When I had an unfortunate encounter with a palmetto bug, I could spray him from a safe distance, and it would immediately die. Within a couple days time of using the product, I stopped having run-ins with the palmetto bugs all together, and they no longer flew into our boat. In fact, I ceased to see evidence of any insect aboard. No spiders, no ants, no moths, no mosquitoes, and THANK GOD no more palmetto bugs!

Now, I use Cedarcide Original (formerly called Best Yet) once a month all over the interior of the boat to ensure the bugs stay away...and they do! If it has been especially rainy or we are anchored close to shore, I spray it into the air, or sometimes diffuse it with a little coconut oil to repel mosquitoes. When we dock at a marina, I spray our dock lines to keep ants or roaches from welcoming themselves aboard. We've had neighbor cruisers in our anchorage complain about black fly swarms, when we saw none. We use it on our skin and clothes before hiking to avoid ticks. We've stopped using expensive (not to mention toxic) flea and tick treatments on our dog, Ruca, and instead, douse her with the natural Cedarcide every other week or so. We have no worries about touching her fur, or Ruca ingesting toxic chemicals since the product isn't harmful.

One quart size bottle has lasted about 9 months protecting me, my husband, our pup, and our 38' sailboat from critters, non diluted. One bottle is $38, and worth every single penny in our opinion!

So... Secret revealed! Enjoy your new-found bugless life aboard!

P.S. We have no formal contract or affiliation with Cedarcide, except that we're a fan! It's just one of our favorite products that we wanted to share with our fellow sailors. But, if you want to buy your own bottle, this link will give S/V Wanderlust a small kickback! :)

Also, This company also sells a fogger, but its quite expensive so we haven't tried it aboard. We would be quite interested to hear the results if anyone out there has tried it!

Thanks for Reading,

Ben, Quinn and Ruca

#lifeaboard #boat